Common Mime

The Common Mime (Chilasa clytia) is a Swallowtail butterfly found in South and South-east Asia. The butterfly belongs to the Chilasa group or the Black-bodied Swallowtails. It serves an excellent example of a Batesian mimic among the Indian butterflies. Wingspan of 90-105 mm. This is butterfly has dimorphism for both sexes – there are two different colour forms for each sex. The lighter form dissimilis mimics the unpalatable Blue Tiger (Tirumala limniace) while the darker form clytia mimics the unpalatable “Crows”. This is clytia form which looks like Common Indian Crow (Euploea core).

The upper sides and under sides of clytia are a rich dark brown – the colour towards the margins of the wings is much paler. There is a series of creamy to white markings towards the outer margins, many of which are chevron shaped. The spots on the margins between the veins are creamy and small. Towards the outer margins of the hind wings, there are two rows of cream coloured chevrons, the outer being much smaller than the inner. The margins of the hind wings have orange yellow spots between the veins; the ones on the lower side are much larger. This specimen had the wings damaged so the the markings are not very clear.

The ground colour of the wings of dissimilis is blue-gray, with heavy black markings along the veins, giving it a somewhat reticulate appearance. The chevron shaped markings towards the outer margins are similar to those of form clytia.

This butterfly is found in India from Kangra to Sikkim, from Assam to Burma, Nepal, Bangladesh, Peninsular India and the Andaman Islands. It is also found in Sri Lanka, Thailand, Southern China (including Hainan), Hong Kong, Vietnam, Laos, Kampuchea, peninsular Malaysia, Philippines and Indonesia (Flores, Alor, Timor and Moa). Several regional variants and forms are recognized.

It usually flies within a few feet of the ground when searching for nectar or larval host plants. However, it is not uncommon to see it nectaring on blooms high up in the canopy. It prefers wooded areas with open spaces. It is not uncommon in home gardens.

It resembles its unpalatable Danaid models exceptionally well, not only in its markings and general coloration, but also in its behavior. For instance, when flying, it glides for a considerable distance after taking a few leisurely wing beats. After settling on a flower, it keeps its wings quite still like the models and does not continuously vibrate its wings like a typical swallowtail. Like its models, it sleeps with its wings folded over its body, often hanging onto a twig.

It is interesting to note that form clytia in Sri Lanka differs from its subspecies in India in almost the same way that the Indian Common Crow in Sri Lanka differs from its subspecies in India, illustrating the evolutionary selection pressure exerted on the mimics to look more and more like the model in their own environment.

The larvae feed on species of Litsea, Cinnamomum and Nauclea. The pupa of this butterfly is remarkably well camouflaged and resembles a broken twig so well that if a bird were to memorize its image, it will probably pick many dead twigs before it gets it right!

Male Loten's Sunbird with spider in its mouth

I found this male Loten’s Sunbird in my garden the other day with spider in its mouth. The Loten’s Sunbird or Long-billed Sunbird, Cinnyris lotenius (formerly placed in the genus Nectarinia), is one of a group of very small Old World passerine birds which feed largely on nectar. Sunbirds will also take insects, especially when feeding young and Loten’s Sunbird is possibly more insectivorous than other sympatric species. Their flight is fast and direct on their short wings.

Male Loten's Sunbird

Long bill separates this from the sympatric Purple Sunbird. The wings are browner and the maroon breast band is visible on the male under good lighting. The call is distinctive and they are also very active often bobbing their head while foraging.

The song of the male is a long repeated wue-wue-wue… with the last notes accelerated. The males may sing from the tops of bare trees or telegraph wires. Loten’s Sunbird is a resident breeder that is locally common in forest and cultivation in India and Sri Lanka. Two eggs are laid in a suspended nest in a tree. The bag of webs, bark and caterpillar frass.

Loten’s Sunbirds are small, only 12-13 cm long. They have long down-curved bills and brush-tipped tubular tongues, both adaptations to their nectar feeding. The bill lengths vary across populations with long bills found on the east of Peninsular India and in Sri Lanka.

The adult male is mainly glossy purple with a grey-brown belly. It is similar to Purple Sunbird, but is larger, has a longer sickle-shaped bill, and a different belly colour.

The eclipse male has yellow-grey upperparts, darker than Purple Sunbird, and a yellow breast with a blue central streak extending to the belly. The existence of an eclipse plumage in the adult male has however been questioned. The female has yellow-grey upperparts and yellowish underparts, but lacks Purple’s faint supercilium. The call is a buzzy zwick zwick.

Found only in peninsular India and Sri Lanka. The main region is along the Western Ghats and into the southern peninsula. There are scattered records from central India and into the northern Eastern Ghats near Orissa. Race hindustanicus is found in India while the nominate race is found in Sri Lanka.